Case Law[2025] ZAKZDHC 23South Africa
Body Corporate Camarque v Singh and Another (D5012/2024) [2025] ZAKZDHC 23 (29 April 2025)
Headnotes
judgment is dismissed.
Judgment
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# South Africa: Kwazulu-Natal High Court, Durban
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## Body Corporate Camarque v Singh and Another (D5012/2024) [2025] ZAKZDHC 23 (29 April 2025)
Body Corporate Camarque v Singh and Another (D5012/2024) [2025] ZAKZDHC 23 (29 April 2025)
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sino date 29 April 2025
SAFLII
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Policy
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
KWAZULU-NATAL
LOCAL DIVISION, DURBAN
CASE
NO. D5012/2024
In
the matter between:
THE
BODY CORPORATE CAMARQUE
APPLICANT
and
SULESH
SINGH
FIRST RESPONDENT
TRISHANA
SINGH
SECOND RESPONDENT
ORDER
Accordingly,
I make the following order:
1.
The application for summary judgment is dismissed.
2.
The defendant is granted leave to defend the action.
3.
Costs shall be determined by the trial court.
JUDGMENT
Kuzwayo
AJ
[1]
The applicant ("the plaintiff'' in the main action and will be
referred to as
such for ease of reference) issued summons against the
respondents ("the defendants" in the main action and will
be referred
to as such for ease of reference) claiming payment of a
sum of R215 242.55 in respect of levies, sanitation and water
charges.
It is alleged that this is the amount that was owed by the
defendants from September 2020 up to the date of the issue of
summons,
which is 30 April 2024. This amount does not include levies
and other charges which accrued thereafter.
[2]
The defendants defended the action and filed their notice to defend,
and later filed
a plea on 30 July 2023. Of importance is that the
defendants admitted liability for payment of water and sanitation
levies and
in paragraph of the plea they pleaded as follows:
"1.1 The Defendants
raised disputes regarding the amounts levied since taking transfer of
the unit. The Defendants disputed
various amounts found in various
levy statements as well as the water and sanitation charges for
September, November and December
2020. The defendants thereafter
stopped paying the amounts due to the Plaintiff. The matter was
referred to the Community Schemes
Ombud (CSOS) under reference number
4400/KZN/2021 by the Plaintiff for arrear levies and ancillary
amounts owed to them by the
Defendant. The Defendant raised a dispute
on the amounts owed. The matter was dismissed due to a failure on the
part of the plaintiff
to provide CSOS with the necessary documents
needed by CSOS to adjudicate the dispute and have the matter
resolved. The Defendants
do not deny being liable to the Plaintiff
for monies being claimed by the plaintiff."
[1]
[3]
The defendants also raised a defence of statutory non-compliance with
s 25(2)(c) of
the Sectional Title Scheme Management Act 8 of 2011
("STMS Act"). They averred that the plaintiff had failed to
comply
with the said provisions because they did not issue a final
notice detailing the amount and charges owing and giving the
defendants
14 days to settle the amount owing, prior to taking legal
action.
[4]
Pursuant to the defendant's plea, the plaintiff filed an application
for summary judgment
against the defendants and averred that there
was no
bona fide
defence and that the appearance to defend and
plea were filed solely for the purposes of frustrating the
proceedings. The application
was opposed by the defendants on the
basis that their defence was a triable defence.
[5]
The dispute between the parties stemmed from the water and sanitary
levies where the
defendants were of the view that the charges were
escalating even when they had paid the full amounts due. The
defendants pleaded
that they had raised disputes with the plaintiff
regarding the amounts that they were being charged since they took
transfer of
the property. They had previously disputed various
amounts in their statements for levies, more specifically for the
months of
September, October, November and December 2020. When no
positive results were forthcoming, they thereafter stopped paying for
levies
and have been refusing to pay since then. This prompted the
respondent to institute action against the appellants in the high
court.
[6]
The defendants' heads of argument were filed eight days late. At the
time of filing
the heads, the defendants also filed an application
for condonation for the late filing. The application was not opposed
by the
plaintiff and was therefore granted.
[7]
The only issue for determination is whether the defendants indeed
have a
bona fide
defence in the matter.
[8]
Mr
Anderton
, for the plaintiff, submitted that, save for water
and sanitation charges for September 2020, November 2020 and December
2020,
the defendants have not disputed any of the levies that were
charged for the following years. The defendants' unit (Unit 9[...])
was allocated meter number W[...], and the amounts that were levied
by the plaintiff to the defendants for their water consumption
and
sanitary levies were based on the invoices that were issued by the
eThekwini Municipality. The arrears had accumulated to R215
242.55 as
at the date of the issue of summons and the claimed amount is
lawfully due, owing and payable by the defendants.
[9]
The plaintiff argued that the defendants did not dispute liability
for payment of
the claimed amounts, but only contended that the said
amounts were arbitrary. However, they failed to set out the specific
amounts
that they contend are payable. In November 2020, the
defendants ceased paying their levies.
[10]
It is the plaintiff's contention that the defendants did not deny the
averments that were made
by the plaintiff in paragraphs 21 to 24 of
the founding affidavit but had instead noted them which amounted to
admission. The plaintiff
stated that the amounts for the disputed
months (inclusive of VAT) as they appear from the tax invoices for
the defendants' unit
(Camarque (Unit 9[...])) for water consumption
were as follows:
(a)
For September 2020 - R1 731.56 including VAT;
(b)
October 2020
- R3 069.59,
including VAT;
(c)
November 2020 - R1 862.64 including
VAT; and
(d)
December 2020 - R225.31 including VAT.
[11]
The defendants were also billed the following amounts for sewage
disposal charges:
(a)
September 2020 - R352.68, including VAT;
(b)
October 2020
- R634.81,
including VAT;
(c)
November 2020 - R383.78, including
VAT; and
(d)
December 2020 - R36.97, including VAT;
which
amounts are as they appear on the statements of eThekwini
Municipality.
[12]
Mr
Anderton
submitted that the above quoted amounts are the
only amounts that were disputed by the defendants. Accordingly, for
the purposes
of the summary judgment, the plaintiff was prepared to
leave out the amount of R10 536.80 in respect of the disputed months
of
September 2020, October 2020, November 2020 and December 2020.
Therefore, he asked that summary judgment be granted for the sum
of
R204 705.75 because no further disputes were raised by the defendants
regarding their charges.
[13]
Mr
Anderton
disputed the.defendants' assertions regarding the
annexure "A", "B" and "C" to the
answering affidavit.
These annexures are copies of statements for 20
October 2020, 21 July 2020 and 28 November 2020, respectively. In the
answering
affidavit, the defendants contended that in October 2020,
they were charged R3 069.59 for water and R634.81 for sanitation and
in support of the said contentions attached annexure "A".
[14]
Mr
Anderton
also disputed the amounts that the defendant
stipulated in the answering affidavit were the amounts that were
charged in October
2020 and advised that the correct amounts for
October were R1 731.56 for water and R352.68 for sanitation.
Additionally, Mr
Anderton
refuted that there were duplications
of charges in annexure "C" to the answering affidavit, as
alleged by the defendants.
[15]
The plaintiff disputed that its claim in respect of the four months
was rejected by the Community
Scheme Ombud Service ("CSOS")
on the grounds that the plaintiff had failed to comply with s
25(2)(c) of the STSM Act
and that the claim was unsupported by
evidence. The plaintiff asserted that the claim was dismissed on the
basis that it was premature,
and the plaintiff had failed to exhaust
internal remedies. Furthermore, the plaintiff disputed the
defendants' assertion that a
letter of demand had not been issued,
and maintained that a final demand was sent to the defendants on 30
March 2021, although
he did not have proof of the same. He submitted
that the defendants do not have a
bona fide
defence.
[16]
The defendants' counsel, Mr
Sukdeo
, maintained that the
defendants have a triable defence. He conceded that the defendants
are liable to pay the arrear levies for
water and sanitation charges
but are disputing the amount they were owing due to their queries
which have not been answered by
the plaintiff to date. He was adamant
that the defendants were prepared to pay once they were provided with
a detailed explanation
in response to their queries regarding the
amounts they were charged.
[17]
Mr
Sukdeo
contended that in as much as the defendants had
failed to plead their case regarding their dispute of levies for the
post December
2020 period, they were persisting with their queries
for the amounts that were still being levied on them. He argued that
there
have been historical discrepancies on the invoices whereby the
amounts did not correlate, and the statement of account presented
to
the court did not cover the full period of the claim. Therefore, a
comprehensive statement was not placed before court.
[18]
Mr
Sukdeo
conceded that that a final demand was sent by the
plaintiff and received by the defendants on 30 March 2021. However,
he argued
that the said demand was not for the full amount that is
currently claimed by the plaintiff. As a result, there was no notice
in
terms of Regulation 25 of the Sectional Title Management
Regulation of 2016. He submitted that when the defendants disputed
their
levy statements, such dispute fell within the ambit of s 39(1
)(c). He persisted that there are various issues that needed to be
addressed by the plaintiff and there is a genuine dispute which can
be dealt with by the trial court or be referred to the CSOS.
Legal
principles
[19]
It is trite that the plaintiff can apply to court for summary
judgment on each of such claims
in the summons based on a liquid
document; or for a liquidated amount in money.
[2]
A liquidated amount for purposes of summary judgment is an amount
that is either agreed upon or capable of prompt ascertainment.
In
determining whether an amount is liquidated, the courts have
traditionally referred to whether the quantum is calculable with
precision, either through a simple calculation or by reference to
agreed facts. A claim is regarded as liquid if it stems from
a liquid
document (such as a contract where the amount is specified), or if
the amount can be ascertained through a simple calculation
based on
the terms of the agreement.
[3]
[20]
For a defendant to successfully oppose a summary judgment
application, he must disclose a
bona
fide
defence. This is still provided for in the amended Rule 32. Where the
defence is based upon facts, in the sense that material facts
alleged
by the plaintiff in his summons, or combined summons, are disputed or
new facts are alleged constituting a defence, the
court does not
attempt to decide these issues. All that the court has to enquire
into is: (a) whether the defendant has fully disclosed
his and the
facts on which it is founded and (b) whether such defence is bona
fide and good in law.
[4]
[21]
The court must be satisfied that the plaintiff has established its
claim clearly on the papers
and the defendants have failed to set up
a
bona
fide
defence as required in terms of the rules of this court. There are
accordingly two basic requirements that the plaintiff must meet,
namely a clear claim and pleadings which are technically correct
before the court. If either of these requirements is not met,
the
court is obliged to refuse summary judgment. In fact, before even
considering whether the defendant has established a
bona
fide
defence, it is necessary for the Court to be satisfied that the
plaintiff's claim has been clearly established and its pleadings
are
technically in order.
[5]
Analysis
Letter
of demand
[22]
The defendants pleaded and argued that the plaintiff had failed to
serve them with a letter of
demand. In his argument pertaining to the
issue of the letter of demand, Mr Anderton referred me to the case of
Body
Corporate of Central Park v Mosa
,
[6]
where the court found that giving notice in terms of Management Rule
25(2) is not essential to establish a cause of action in a
claim for
arrear levies. Mr
Sukdeo
submitted that in
Lion
Ridge Body Corporate
,
[7]
the same court took a contrasting view and elevated compliance with
the Regulations and/or body corporate rules to be essential
prior to
the institution of an action. I considered both cases.
[23]
In
Body
Corporate of Central Park v Mosa
,
[8]
the court stated that the STSM Act makes no provision for such notice
to be sent to a unit owner who has defaulted in paying the
contributions contemplated in ss 3(2) and (3) thereof, before a body
corporate can institute legal action to enforce such payment.
Hence,
a failure to send a defaulting owner a Management Rule 25(2) final
notice would not negate a body corporate's right in terms
of ss 3(2)
and (3) of the STSM Act to claim arrear contributions levied.
[24]
Management Rule 25 sets out the procedure to be followed by a body
corporate that wishes to collect
a debt owing by its members.
[9]
Management Rule 25(2) requires a body corporate to give written
notice not later than 14 days after the adoption of a body
corporate's
budget, of the contributions and charges due by each
member, the due payment date, the rate of interest, if any, payable
on arrear
amounts, and the details of a dispute resolution process
the member can engage if they wish to challenge the charges sought to
be levied (Management Rule 25 (1)).
[25]
Having considered Management Rule 25 and the case of
Lion
Ridge
,
[10]
the notice referred to in Management Rule 25(2) refers to the notice
to be given by the body corporate after the adoption of a
body
corporate's budget, the details of charges due by each member and
process to be followed to challenge such budget. In my view,
it does
not refer to the disputes regarding the charges imposed by eThekwini
Municipality for water and sanitation as per the member's
consumption
and the dispute between the parties does not involve the usual levies
imposed on members by the body corporate.
[26]
If I am not correct in my analysis of the notice in terms of
Management Rule 25(1), I share the
view of the court in
Body
Corporate of Kleber v Sehube and Another
[11]
that the plaintiff's failure to give notice does not eliminate the
issue in dispute, which is the payment of levies. The statute
does
not prescribe the giving of a notice to make the debt due. Therefore,
Regulation 25 does not purport to impose a pre-condition
in the form
of such a notice.
[12]
An owner
who had not received such a notice, whether deliberately not sent or
inadvertently not sent, when faced with a demand
to pay arrears, is
not excused from the liability to pay.
[13]
Insofar as an obligation to give a notice in Regulation 25(2) has
been created, it is an aspect of an administrative procedure
to
facilitate good order, not an injunction that is relevant to framing
the cause of action.
[14]
[27]
I do not intend to elaborate on the issue of the plaintiff's failure
to issue a notice because
it was raised as a special plea. In any
event, the defendants conceded liability and the only issue in
dispute is the issue of
quantum, which cannot be reversed by the fact
that the plaintiff had failed to provide notice. Therefore, this
court only has a
duty to consider if the plaintiff has established
its claim clearly on the papers and whether the defendants have a
bona fide
defence in their failure and or refusal to pay the
claimed amount.
The
claimed amount
[28]
For the sake of completeness, it is necessary to first articulate the
background of the claim.
Before instituting these proceedings, the
plaintiff initially referred the dispute regarding the arrear levies
arising from the
same account to the CSOS. In that application the
plaintiff claimed payment of a sum of R21 611.84 in respect of arrear
levies,
interest and admin charges. Although it has been stated that
the only months that were disputed by the defendants at the time were
September, October, November and December 2020, it is not clear which
months were incorporated in the said claim and how that amount
was
determined. Considering the amount of the claim and the year in which
the dispute was lodged with the CSOS which is 2022, it
is clear that
such amount did not include the whole of the year 2021. No argument
was presented that after 31 December 2020, the
defendants had resumed
paying and if so, when did they cease paying again. None of this is
explained in the founding papers.
[29]
Of importance is the fact that plaintiff's application was dismissed
by the CSOS adjudicator
on the ground that the plaintiff had failed
to submit the necessary information and or documentation that she had
requested to
assist in investigating the claim. It is crucial to
highlight what is set out in paragraph 15.4 of the adjudication
order, where
the adjudicator stated as follows:
"The Applicant has
failed to submit a response as requested and it therefore appears
that this application is premature as
there are various issues on the
Respondent's invoices which must be addressed, before any order of
arrear levies, interest and
admin charges can be granted."
[30]
This on its own says a lot about the claim before this court and the
order sought by the plaintiffs.
It raises concerns that instead of
addressing the defendants' queries that were pointed out by the
adjudicator and submitting the
necessary documents and or the
comprehensive statement of the defendants' account, the plaintiff
decided to abandon its claim with
the CSOS and laid it to rest for
some time before resorting to approaching the high court for
recourse. Furthermore, the plaintiff
was already aware that it has a
bridge to cross before any order for payment can be granted.
[31]
The pertinent issue is whether the plaintiff has pleaded its case in
its particulars of claim
and attached the necessary documents in
support of the amount claimed. At this point, it is crucial to
mention that the plaintiff
failed to attach a comprehensive statement
incorporating the defendants' arrears and or provide a breakdown of
the claimed amount.
It has always been the defendants' case that they
do not deny their liability to pay only needed their queries to be
addressed
in order to determine the amount owing, due and payable.
[32]
It is common cause that the defendants did not raise dispute of the
levies that were charged
for the following years, after 31 December
2020. However, at all material times, the plaintiff had been fully
aware of the defendants'
queries regarding their charge of levies,
which led to the plaintiff referring the dispute to the CSOS. There
is no reason provided
as to when and why it would then have changed
its stance and accepted the charged levies.
[33]
Without seeking to enter into the arena of the CSOS or be seen to
reviewing its decision, I am
duty bound to decide on the application
for summary judgment, which is the issue before this court. In the
process, I also cannot
overlook the decision of the adjudicator that
"there are various issues which must be addressed before any
order for payment
of arrear levies, interest and admin charges can be
granted" and grant summary judgment. The adjudicator's order
made it clear
that various issues needed to be interrogated regarding
the charge of levies that were charged on the defendants account to
address
their concerns. This never happened, which means that the
cause for the defendants' concern was never addressed. I pause to
mention
that the burning issue of the defendants' charges and their
non-payment would have been scrutinsed and resolved by the
adjudicator
who has been given wide inquisitorial powers by
legislation, at that stage.
[15]
However, this could not be achieved without the plaintiff's
cooperation of providing the relevant documents requested by the
adjudicator.
[34]
Of most concern is the fact that when instituting the action, the
plaintiff failed to place these
documents before court by attaching
them to the particulars of claim. Although the adjudicator only dealt
with the four months
that were disputed by the defendants, in my
view, the amount claimed by the plaintiff include arrear amounts for
September to December
2020, correctly so because the amount/period
leading to the claimed amount is interlinked and inseparable. Even
though the adjudicator
had ruled on the claim for the abovementioned
period, the defendants' debt for the said had been carried over and
forms part of
this application.
[35]
Therefore, this court cannot overlook the adjudication order and the
reasons that led to the
plaintiff's claim being rejected by the
adjudicator. With no update or evidence presented before this court
that the issues that
were raised by the defendants were ever
addressed, granting an order for summary judgment despite the
adjudication order against
such award would be an injustice to the
defendant and undermining the CSOS powers as conferred to it by
legislation.
[36]
To date, there is no proof that system that was utilised by the
plaintiff for charging levies
for water and sanitation was ever
reviewed, or simplified to the defendants, post December 2020. It is
concerning that when the
plaintiff realised that its claim was no
longer premature and was ripe for hearing, it sought to bypass the
dispute resolution
mechanism of the CSOS, most probably because it
had previously rejected the initial claim. In my view, the plaintiff
should have
allowed CSOS, based on its wide inquisitorial powers,
[16]
to scrutinise and finalise the investigation of the charges imposed
on the defendant. The CSOS was established to deal with these
kinds
of disputes and the plaintiff's conduct which effectively seeks to
undermine the powers of the CSOS is not favourable.
[17]
However, with the claim having been filed in this court, it deserves
to be scrutinised by the trial court.
[37]
Concerning the months that were disputed by the defendants during the
year 2020, both parties
have been inconsistent. In some instances, it
has been contended that the defendants disputed charges for September
2020, November
2020, and December 2020 (paragraph 17 of the founding
affidavit); and in paragraph 4 of the heads of argument, the
plaintiff stated
that it attached the municipal accounts for the
months of "October to December 2020 (which are months used by
the defendants
to query the amounts charged)...". However, when
addressing the billings of the disputed months, it incorporated
October 2020
(paragraph's 21 and 24 of the founding affidavit).
[38]
In his argument, the defendants' counsel also submitted that there
was duplication of charges.
This was disputed by the plaintiff's
counsel in his reply. I agree with the plaintiff's counsel that no
duplication of charges
appear in annexure "C" to the
answering affidavit, as contended by the defendants' counsel. The
same amounts that the
defendants were charged, as appearing in
annexure "C", are for different periods/months.
[39]
In their answering affidavit, the defendants averred that in the
statement of 1 October 2020
they were billed R3 069.59 for water and
R634.81 for sanitation. As correctly pointed out by the plaintiff's
counsel, the amounts
that were set out by the defendants regarding
the levies contained in the October 2020 statement were inaccurate.
The defendants
were indeed charged such amounts, but such information
is not confirmed by annexure "A" as submitted by the
defendants.
This could have been an error because the correct
annexure is annexure "C".
[40]
The defendants further referred to the amount of R14 007.24 which was
amount that was due for
and settled in full in July 2020. They
averred that in the statement of August 2020 an amount of R934.40
appeared as a balance
brought forward. In that regard, the defendants
attached annexure "B" as confirmation of the paid amount
and the balance
brought forward. Again, this was correctly disputed
by the plaintiff's counsel because the amount of R14 007.24 was paid
in July
but the amount of R934.40 did not appear in the statement of
August 2020, which would have been expected to contain an amount
carried
over in July. Such amount appeared in the statement of 20
October 2020 (annexure "A" to the answering affidavit), not
August 2020 as alleged by the defendants.
[41]
With the plaintiff having tabled the amounts (inclusive of VAT) that
were billed on the defendants'
statements for the four months of
September 2020, October 2020, November 2020, and December 2020 in its
founding affidavit, I deem
it necessary to analyse the statement that
was issued by eThekwini Municipality on the 4 October 2020 in respect
of the defendants'
unit. The said statement should reflect the
consumption of September 2020. An amount of R1 505.70 for water and
R306.68 for sewage
(excluding VAT), were charged in this statement.
[42]
The statement that was issued by the plaintiff on 20 October 2020,
reflects that these charges
were incurred on 1 September 2020, while
the statement of eThekwini Municipality indicates 2020/09/18 as the
date of consumption.
Based on Mr
Anderton's
submission that
the amounts charged on the defendants are what is charged by the
Municipality, one would expect these amounts to
appear in the
defendants' statement with the same dates as reflected in the
statement from eThekwini Municipality. This does not
substantiate
what was portrayed by the plaintiff's counsel in his argument.
Clearly, the plaintiff's statement in paragraph 25
of its affidavit
that "the Respondents' levy account was accordingly debited with
the amounts reflected above including VAT
which was payable by the
Applicant to eThekwini Municipality" is also inaccurate.
[43]
I therefore cannot say that the defendants' confusion and or
dissatisfaction is unfounded or
unreasonable. Of importance in this
regard is the provision of Regulation 25(6) which provides that 'on
request in writing by a
member, the body corporate must make
available a full and detailed account of all amounts debited and
credited to the member's
account with the body corporate'. Even if
the defendants did not utilise Regulation 25(6) in its queries, in my
view, the request
of the CSOS adjudicator was sufficient to persuade
the plaintiff furnish the necessary documents so that they could be
scrutinised.
This would have assisted in determining the amount due
and payable by the defendants. Even in its particulars of claim, the
plaintiff
failed to attach a comprehensive statement, in support of
its claim, detailing the global figure that is claimed.
[44]
Mr
Anderton
also argued that, in their answering affidavit the
defendants had noted paragraphs 21 to 24 of the founding affidavit
which, according
to him, means that they were admitting the contents
thereof. In my view, these paragraphs were correctly noted by the
defendants
because the paragraphs were only stating the amounts as
they appeared in the defendant's statements that were issued for the
quoted
four months and how they were levied on their accounts.
Without the defendants having interrogated the statements as I have
done
in the preceding paragraphs, they had no grounds to dispute the
allegations contained in those paragraphs.
[45]
Mr
Anderton
advised the court that the plaintiff is willing to
forgo the levies for September, October, November and December 2020,
and request
summary judgment for the sum of R204 705.75 because the
levies for the remaining period (post December 2020) were never
disputed
by the defendants. The defendants may not have literally
expressed their dissatisfaction regarding the charges post December
2020
but their continuous refusal to pay was sufficient to indicate
that they were still disputing the charges, especially as they had
already indicated their discontentment. From inception, the
defendants have always admitted liability to pay and only disputed
the amounts charged. The plaintiff is entitled to payment of levies.
However, as correctly pointed out by the defendants' counsel
the
trial court might interrogate the issues and deal with the
discrepancies that were alleged by the defendants or refer the matter
back to the CSOS. I agree with the defendants' counsel in this
regard.
[46]
Having said that, it is common cause that the defendants are owing
levies and have admitted liability.
The only issue in dispute is the
issue of quantum, which have not been fully pleaded in the founding
papers. In
Lion
Ridge
,
[18]
the court dismissed the applications by
Lion
Ridge
[19]
and stated that neither the debt
Lion
Ridge
[20]
was alleging, nor the right to disconnect or limit the respondents'
water and electricity supplies to enforce payment of that debt,
had
been established in its founding papers.
Conclusion
[47]
I share the court's reasoning regarding the plaintiff's papers
concerning the claim that is sought.
The statements that were issued
by eThekwini Municipality, which the plaintiff relies on for the
amount of debt allegedly owed
by the defendants, were not attached to
the particulars of claim. Although some of these statements were
attached to the affidavit
in support of the application for summary
judgment. Furthermore, no detailed statement of the defendants'
account was placed before
court to assist this court in determining
the amount that is claimed by the plaintiff. It also does not appear
anywhere in the
plaintiff's papers or its argument that the
defendant's queries were, at any stage, investigated and addressed.
[48]
Therefore, to grant the plaintiff an order for summary judgment would
be to effectively deny
the defendants the opportunity to present
their case before court. That cannot be said to be justice. In the
circumstances, I am
convinced that with the defendants having
conceded liability, they have a bona fide defence on the issue of
quantum and am of the
view that the matter deserves to proceed to
trial.
Order
[49]
It is therefore ordered that:
1.
The application for summary judgment is dismissed.
2.
The defendant is granted leave to defend the action.
3.
Costs shall be determined by the trial court.
NZ
KUZWAYO AJ
APPEARANCES
For
the applicant: Adv S. Anderton
Instructed
by:
CB and Associates incorporated
For
the respondent: Mr R. Sukdeo
Instructed
by:
Sukdeo Attorneys
Date
of hearing: 20 March 2025
Date
of judgment: 29 April 2025
[1]
First and second defendants' plea para 1.1.
[2]
Uniform Rule 32(1 )(a) and (b).
[3]
Pareto
(Pty) Ltd and Another v Theron and Another
[2024] ZAWCHC 249
para 29.
[4]
Maharaj
v Barclays National Bank Ltd
1976(1) SA 418 (A) at 426A-C.
[5]
Gulf
Steel (Pty) Ltd v Rack-Rite Bop (Pty) Ltd and Another
1998 (1) SA 679 (O).
[6]
Body
Corporate of Central Park v Makhalemele Mosa
Case number A3064/2021 handed down on 24 November 2021, at para 35.
[7]
Lion
Ridge Body Corporate v Alexander; Lion Ridge Body Corporate v
Morata; Lion Ridge Body Corporate v Mukona and Another
[2022] ZAGPJHC 713.
[8]
Ibid
[9]
Ibid.
[10]
Ibid.
[11]
Body
Corporate of Kleber v Sehube and Another
[2021] ZAGPJHC 653.
[12]
Ibid.
[13]
Ibid.
[14]
Ibid.
[15]
Ibid para 35.
[16]
Heathrow
Property Holdings No 33 CC and Others v Manhattan Place Body
Corporate and Others
[2021] ZAWCHC 109
;
[2021] 3 All SA 527
(WCC);
2022 (1) SA 211
(WCC)
para 35 17 Ibid para 29.
[17]
Ibid para 29.
[18]
Lion
Ridge
fn 7 above.
[19]
Ibid.
[20]
Ibid.
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